Mount Batur is an active volcano located at the center of two concentric calderas north west of Mount Agung on the island of Bali, Indonesia. The elevation of Mount Batur is 1717m, and the last eruption occurred in 2000. It was a relatively short trek, but it was special. It was early Christmas morning, 2 am when we set out from our homestay. The idea was to reach the summit of Mt. Batur for the sunrise.
After about an hour in the car, our first stop was at Pineh Colada Farm where we had a coffee and pancake. Kids had a tea and pancake, before we set out to meet or guides for the climb.
We had two guides. They provided is with flashlights and we headed out and up. It was actually surprising to see how many people are on board with waking up in the middle of the night and climbing an active volcano. The parking lot at the guide station was full and you could see a strong of flashlights up on the mountain, but it did not take away from the experience, as we had to zone into our climb and watch our footing at every step.
In some parts it almost felt like a nasty stair master. Stepping up onto rocks was tricky in the dark, but everyone tackled the challenge with a smile and made it all the way to the top. No complaining! We took frequent stops and it seemed that we reached to top quite quickly. I think it took us about 2.5 hours.
The view from the top of the surrounding mountains and Lake Batur were amazing. It was really cool, when we got to warm our hands in crevices which were emitting warm volcanic steam. It really was a reminder, that this peak is a sleeping giant. The kids actually talked about the volcano, and how the lava was sleeping. We learned from our guides that the most recent eruption of Mount Batur was in the year 2000, however the largest documented eruption was in 1963, and we could see the trail of lava and it's path into the countryside.
Almost at the top!!!
We did it! At the summit!
Breakfast time at the edge of the volcanic crater.
Menu: bread and eggs cooked in the volcanic steam.
Chilling at the top!
Veronika with her Christmas pose. She started a trend and a whole group of people started taking the same photo. Among them we met a girl who was from Barrie, Ontario, our hometown...small world.
Beginning the trek back down the volcano.
On our way down, the monkeys were expecting visitors. It looks like they are fed daily by the guides and tourists with all the leftovers from breakfast. This is clearly NOT an environmentally sound and safe practice for the monkeys! But the kids loved the close encounter with the monkeys.
Rest stop.
Almost down in the valley, with Mount Batur behind us.
All the minerals from the volcanic ash make the region very fertile and as a result the is an abundance of farming at the base of the volcano.
We said goodbye to our guides...one of which was on her way to school shortly. She is 18 and still in school. She works as a guide trekking up Mount Batur upto 5 times a week and then goes to school for noon. Quite a different reality from what we know. Our other guide treks almost every day, sometimes 2 times a day. It's really incredible how physically fit these people are.
On the ride home we enjoyed more stunning views, and stopped for some pisang goreng (banana pancakes), but the kids were pretty much asleep within the first 2 minutes of the car ride back to Ubud. It would be a lazy Christmas day, that's for sure!
